Emerging Opportunities for

Commercial Printers In Line

Narrow Web Technologies
MANISH KAPOOR
FLEXO IMAGE GRAPHICS
What Does A Commercial
Packaging Converter Do…….
• Board Cartons
• Flexible Packaging
(Film)
• Labels
• Cups & Closures
Indian Packaging Industry Pie

14% 19% Flexible

Labels
5% Cups, PoP
board tags
10% 10% board
corrugated
2% metal
6% 3%
glass
caps & closures
12% 19% rigid plastic
How Does The Converter Do This…

• Offset is the predominant technology in India,

although gravure is still growing in India with
new presses and electronic engravers being
imported increasing in number each year.
Gravure in India is majorly used for Flexible
packaging which is also growing at double digit
rates.
• Flexo Printing turnover in India is still at 20 to
25% of flexible packaging turnover although
growing fast with narrow web presses and also
with import of wide web flexo mainly for the
food processing industry.
Operations Involved In
Converting These Products…
• Printing – single sided/both sides
• Varnishing
• Lamination
• Value Addition – Foiling/Screen/Embossing
• Computer Sprocket Punching
• Die cutting
• Waste Stripping
Most Common Problem Areas…
• Minimum 4 to 5 operations involved
• Raw Material is handled 8 -10 times
• Wastages incurred at every stage of Material
Handling
• More Capital investment required for different
machinery for various operations
• More Labor Required
• Turnaround time is more
• In Summary – NET Cost of the product is higher
WELCOME TO THE DREAM
WORLD…..

GO INLINE – RAW MATERIAL TO

FINISHED PRODUCT IN ONE
PASS!!!
Offset VS. Flexo
VARIOUS SUBSTRATE CAN BE CONVERTED

• Plain paper
• Pressure sensitive stock
• Board, Metallised board
• Film ( un supported)
• Film Label stock
• Foil, Metallised paper,
Metallised film
• Woven cloth
• Laminates
• Etc.
Out put options
• Roll form
• Sheet form
• Fan folded
• Individual Products
Advantages

• Printing on both sides is possible with

Web Turn Bar in single pass
• Delam / Relam (Printing on Adhesive
side) is possible
• Printing, Lamination, Hot foil stamping,
Die cutting, Slitting, rewinding are
possible in line, in the same machine
Advantages
• Reduced delivery time
• Reduction in wastage, as all the printing,
converting is done In Line
• Reduction in Labor, Power, Floor space
• Consistency within the same Run, and
repeat orders.
INLINE
• Printing 8 colours
• Varnishing
• Lamination
• Value Addition (2/3 Ops.)
• Die cutting
• Waste Stripping
• Delivery in roll / sheet
form/Individual product
• All in one machine- same
pass
VS. Traditional
• Reel cutting
• Cutting
• Printing 4 colour (Front)
• Printing 4 colour (Back)
• Varnishing
• Lamination
• Value Addition
• Die cutting / cutting
• Waste Stripping
• Multiple pass / Multiple
machines
FLEXO
• Better colour
consistency
• Water less printing
• Direct printing
• Less wastage due to all
process in line
• Inter station dryers
• Easy to print non porous
material
• Less project cost
VS. OFFSET
• Irregular colour
consistency
• Water and ink balance
• In direct printing
• More wastage due to
more no. of machines
• Final dryer only
• Very difficult to print non
porous materials
• High project cost
Opportunities Exist In…
• Labels
• Flexible Packaging – Films, Shrink sleeves
• Cartons
The Indian Label & Packaging
Industry
• The Industry as a whole is growing more than twice the
GDP growth rate.
• Packaging and Converting growth in India is the leading
segment. It has grown from 26% of the printing industry
in 1999 to about 34% of the total turnover of the
industry.
• The label Industry’s size including wet glue, pressure
sensitive, flexible and wraparound labels in 02-03 was
Rs. 18.42 Billion. It is expected that with the forecasted
growth trends, the Indian label industry’s turnover will
surpass the US$ 1 Billion mark in 2007-08 and up to US$
1.4 Billion in 2010
The Indian Label Industry
• Wet Glue labels will continue to grow at 11% but the
same for pressure sensitive labels would be around
24%.
• Within pressure sensitive labels, the use of transparent
and filmic labels is the hot segment. Flexible labels
produced by gravure and flexography are increasing at
more than 25% annually from a small base of Rs. 680
million in 02-03 to at least 3.24 Billion in 09-10
• Wet glue will decline in India to about 30% of label
production by value in 2009-10 while pressure sensitive
labels will rise to 65% and flexible labels will go from 4%
to more than 5%.
Substrates In India –
Present & Future
• India already manufacturers more than 600,000
tons of plastic based films and laminates with an
annual growth in capacity of 10%.
• Leading suppliers of hot and cold foils such as
Kurz and API are already present in the country.
• Although India is a large manufacturer of
chromo paper used for wet glue labels, the best
face stock for pressure sensitive stocks needs to
be imported.
Substrates In India –
Present & Future
• Label stock suppliers such as Avery Dennison
have had a presence in the country for more
than a decade and several other manufacturers
are due to set up plants in India. For the last
many years Domestic manufacturers like Weldon
have been producing high quality label stocks.
• World class adhesives are being manufactured in
India by multinationals such as Rohm and Haas
and the local manufacturers such as Jubilant
Organosys.
This was just a summary on
Labels…
• Huge potentials remain in the label & Tag
industry alone. This industry is booming
• India is only starting to awaken to the demands
of short and medium runs of flexible packaging
needs. Inline presses are starting to show their
effectiveness in this area.
• Ditto for cartons.
• The Boom is around the corner waiting for ……
YOU!!
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